Separate Lives
by indivia.blues
Summary: a lil' story inspired by Tamora Pierce.Cat lost her brother. Hawk lost his memories. Mari lost her home. a fate that entwines theirs lives. what's to become of them?
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was a cold winter's night, the icy wind rattled the windows of a tall, intimidating building with its windows and doors firmly shut. Ivy wrapped its sides like a coat; thin bare branches bent by the force of the icy wind brushed each other lightly. Then a child's cry split the air, startling it into silence. Two more shrill cries followed.

"Lady, they are well. Bit small but alive nonetheless. Lady? Lady!" A voice cried as the owner rushed to wrap the three little crying figures. She then took a wet cloth and dabbed the sweaty forehead of the lady lying on the bed.

"They're all right Agnes?" the lady rasped.

"Yes my Lady, now hush. Sleep." Agnes replied. The new mother peacefully drifted off into a light sleep.

"Lady! The third child! I don't think she can make it!"

"What!" the Lady's eyes snapped open. "My child! How is she?"

"Lady, she didn't make it." Agnes gently said. "I'm so sorry my Lady."

"My child!" the lady moaned with grief. Tears ran freely down her pretty face. Silence settled for a few minutes before the Lady whispered, "Agnes, let no one know of this. Bury my child at the edge of the Dungeon…take the necklace out off the top drawer of the dresser, put it on my daughter."

The midwife did as she was told without question, mothers sometimes asked her to do strange things to their child whether they were well or not. As she slipped the pendent over the baby's head, it blazed with a white light. Agnes dropped the pendent to shield her eyes. But as suddenly as it started, the light vanished and Agnes picked up the pendent gingerly. She almost dropped it again in surprise. On the pendant's smooth crystallized surface, carved in beautiful words was a name.

The midwife pursed her lips and debated of she should tell this to the Lady. When she heard the Lady give a heartfelt sigh she knew that the Lady had entered a deep slumber. _Well, no use telling her anymore._

Agnes bundled the other two children warmly before she set out towards the Dungeon with the cold small bundle in her arms and a spade tied to her back.

Upon reaching the edge of the menacing massive forest, Agnes promptly dug a small pit. She placed the bundle of cloth into the pit and covered the hole.

* * *

"My daughter, it will do nobody good if you stay with the Shadow Lord. Rise. Rise, daughter of Yaseishizen, of The Wild and Mother Nature." a voice boomed.

* * *

Hoof steps mingled together with the cry of a child.

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well, how is it? please review, tell me how ta improve please ) 


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_Don't worry Cat. We'll be fine _Christopher Tres Quelany reassured his sister_. I'm scared_ Caterine Tres Quelany replied,_ and tired and hot and the cramped_. She could feel that her brother was afraid as well, but being in the small cramped hidey hole without anyone but Tammy for company as making her feel grouchy.

_Sorry,_ she apologized. _its okay, I feel cranky too. and Tippy isn't much of a company in here._ He replied._ love you Cat._

_love you Chris_. The screaming and yelling above their heads rose and both of them lapse into silence.

_Pirates! I hate them!_ Cat cried tears streaming down her cheeks. _We'll live Cat, and then we'll hunt them down. We'll make them pay. _Three days earlier, there had been a sudden attack at the East harbor; the duchess had sent most of their arms and soldiers there so they had not been prepared for the attack at west harbor. Tantarus was in trouble, so they sent help to Heign only to receive the message that the reinforcements were low and that they were on their own.

Although the twins were only five, the duchess had ordered that they learn as ten year olds do. They could write, do arithmetic, read and they excelled all the things nobles were supposed to learn, music, dancing, art, court manners and they were skilled in both Tashina and Xin fighting which served as a form of self-defense. They had a good memory, a quick brain and the willingness to work and learn. With that knowledge, the twins suspected that Heign was in league with the pirates. Normal pirate troops were not as large as this one. And the general, General Jeeslaw had reported that five different pirate flags had been sighted.

When the pirates had broken through most of their defenses, their mother had sent them to hide. She could remember the time she had shown them the Rouka and the Heya. It had been mother's birthday…

"Is it done yet Aunt Betty?" Caterine Tres Quelany asked impatiently.

"Be patient my child. All in good time,"Aunt Betty said in her placid way.

_She's taking too long. We'll be late! _Caterine thought._ Be patient Cat! We're not late and we won't be late. Now would you keep it down? Tippy's stalking a sparrow._

_He'll never catch it. _Cat replied. But she kept quiet.

Cat and Chris were twins and looked exactly alike but for the length of their hair. They both had obedient auburn hair and purple eyes of the same shade. No one but their mom and Aunt Marge, their housekeeper, could tell them apart.

After what seemed like hours to Cat, Aunt Betty exclaimed "Voila! It is finished!" Cat snapped to attention and ran towards Aunt Betty.

"Thank you Aunt betty! It looks lovely! Doesn't it Chris?" Cat exclaimed.

"Yea! Mama will love it!" Chris replied grinning from ear to ear.

For some mysterious reason the Duchess kept to herself, the twins were kept a secret from the village. The twins never saw the villagers thus never made any friends. The servants who knew the twins also kept quiet about them, they never told anyone of the presence of the twins.

Aunt Betty was Cat's needle work teacher, and had finished their present to the Duchess, a beautiful green shawl with shiny beads on them. She passed it to Cat who dashed of crying "hurry up!" They had reached Graystones with grins on their faces and entered it when their kittens caught up.

They had joyfully presented their present to their mother. But they had noticed that during tea, which was a magnificent spread of seafood, their mother had seemed preoccupied.

After tea, the Duchess had asked them to follow her; curiously they did so with Tippy and Tammy at their heels with full stomachs. She led them to the attic and said, "I feel that it is time that you knew of the Rouka, which means secret passage in Yashina. The Rouka was built by your Great-Grandfather Taft who had also built this mansion. The Rouka was fashioned for emergency purposes."

All of a sudden they felt a loud screeching noise, and lo and behold, on the floor was a hole in which there were stairs leading down. "I'll need to get James to oil this, well, you press this panel to open the trapdoor. Let's get going." She took a lamp and went down the steps.

When they reached the third step, the Duchess brought up the light to show them how to open and close the trapdoor.

She told them not to reveal this secret to anyone. They then entered a room where there were two separate hidey holes. The Duchess said that it was called the Heya.

After she showed them that, the Duchess made arrangements for food and clothes to be made and prepared to be kept there…

A yell from above her brought Cat out of her memories, the walls surrounding her started to shake and tremble. _Chris! What's going on?_

_I don't know. Argh! The roofs caving in! Be ca- _

_Chris? Chris? Chris! Don't leave me! Chris!!! _Their connection snapped. Cat was frantic, this had never happened before. She felt as if half of her had dissolved away leaving her vulnerable and open. She would have screamed and yelled but she was swamped with numbness both in her heart and mind.

Her mind went blank. She didn't feel her tears dripping down her cheeks. She didn't feel Tammy jump onto her lap and rub herself against her chest. All she felt was a sea of desolation and despair wash over her, drowning her.

* * *

He woke to a dark room on his side. His hands and feet were tied with a rough rope, his head felt heavy, his vision was blurred and only a faint mumble waded through his comprehension.

He lay still, breathing heavily for a few minutes before he tried to sit upright. He realized that the actions of his arms were also limited by a metal chain from his wrist to a post. He leaned against the post and pushed against it, when he finally managed to sit up he surveyed his surroundings.

Slumped bodies could be seen on the ground; they were tied and chained like him. "Yer awake are ye." a voice rasped from behind him.

He turned round to an old dirty man with wisps of white hair in his already grey matted hair. The old man was dressed in clothes fit for the floor.

"Where am I? Who are yo-"the floor lurched and he fell onto his side on more and discovered a bruise.

"Careful ye. Yer on the _Killjoy_. I'm Hashim. Our fates are sealed!" Hashim declared, "Who ye be?"

"I'm…"He started. "I'm…" he stopped, unsure. He waded through the murky waters in his mind searching for it. But it slipped from him.

"Poor lad." Hashim said shaking his head.

Before he could reply the floor lurched the other way, before he could do anything else, it tilted the other way. This continued for a while. His stomach began to roll. Then its contents were being forced up his throat and it sloshed on to the floor.

Then, a door flung open with a bang. "The lad'll do. Take the geezer too." a commanding voice boomed. The felt his ropes cut and his chains break with a cling. A pair of rough hands grabbed him and pushed him. He stumbled up the steps, his stomach still churning.

The same rough hands pushed him again and his stomach collided with a hard rough wooden oar, it surprised him by forcing more of its contents which he thought had been emptied before. The deck was very unsteady, swaying this way and that.

There were two other people rowing with the boy. One was a youth; the other was a huge muscular man. The two ignored the little boy and continued to row, the boy managed to take hold of the oar but could do nothing to help for the oar lifted his hands up high before it dropped down again at amazing speed, leaving the boy just hanging on to the oar.

Then there was a fatal crack, followed by a warning creak. All heads turned to see the mast falling portside. Screams and shouts along with thunder filled the air, someone grabbed the boy and ran.

The boy was joggled and his body swayed from side to side, his tummy churned and the little that's left spilled out. Someone was yelling. Footsteps thudded on the wooden deck. He was dropped onto the floor. The boy clutched his tummy and knelt on the ground. Someone pushed him another pulled him to a side. There was more shouting before they were all silenced by a crack of thunder.

Wait. Not thunder. The boy realised as he stood up. He managed to get a glance at the humongous wall of water before everything was back in motion and he was once again flung out of the way. He hit a barrel and was out before the water even touched him.

* * *

"Mari, finish that before you start your lessons." Lady Evelinda Laugreida of Hillingtosh ordered.

"Yes ma'am." Mari meekly replied. Lady Evelinda swept out of the huge hall and Lenard, the manservant, shut the door not before giving Mari a small smile. Mari smiled back and went back to cleaning the mess Mistress Jennifer's puppy had made.

At the house Hillingtosh, everyone had to be educated, even the children of the servants were educated although separated from the maters mistresses. Mari was not the child of any of the servants; Mrs Jacobs said that the Duke and Lady Hilary had been on their way home when they heard the cry of a baby.

They got off the carriage and found her, Mari, left at the side of the road. The Duke and Lady Hilary took pity on her and brought her here where she was cared for by Mrs Jacobs. By now she knew how to read write and do some simple arithmetic, she also knew that soon she'll have to stop her lessons and concentrate on the household chores.

With a sigh, she mopped up the last of the mess and went up to her room to change and get ready for Mr Kingsley's lessons. She flew through arithmetic, history, geography and English lessons. Before she knew it, it was time for her to change into her uniform and help cook to prepare lunch.

Then once again it was time to dust the halls and statues. And after that it was time to do the laundry and then the dishes. Three years of doing all this had trained her body not to tire until after the serving of dinner.

After her dinner, the days work took its toll on her and she felt the usual cries of her arm muscles. She rubbed them and climbed to her room on the fourth level.

She took a bath and wore a comfortable nightdress Hammie had sewn for her. She flopped onto her thin mattress and was about to fall asleep when there was a knock on her door.

She got to her feet regretfully, dragged on a threadbare shawl and opened the door a crack. "Who is it?" she asked, yawning dreadfully.

"It's us" someone whispered. Mari opened her eyes wide and opened the door for two creeping figures to come in. "What are you doing here? Mistress Laura and Master Henry." she yawned again.

"Aren't you glad to see us?" Mistress Laura asked. Laura Laugreida was the same age as Mari; she was the daughter of Lady Hilary. Henry Laugreida was the brother of Laura; he was eight, three years older then Mari. They both had inherited the blonde wavy hair from the Duke, they also had blue eyes from their grandmother, Lady Hilary had said.

When Mari was little she often played with them until Lady Evelinda said that Laura and Henry should not be mixing with servants. Mari was scolded severely afterwards by Mrs Jacobs. After that the three only exchanged looks and smiles secretly.

"What if Lady Evelinda catches us?"

"She's out with Daddy and Mommy at some banquet." Henry explained. Mari pursed her lips when she heard this. Then, her face broke into a smile and she led the two nobles to her bed.

"How's lessons now?" she asked eagerly.

"Oh it's all about sitting upright all ladylike, sewing and my posture." Laura said nonchalantly. "Its quite nice but I wish Mrs Freya would not drone so."

"Being a page is all very well, but I don't get to use a sword until my third year! The older pages and the squires all ask us to do little duties for them like fetching a book from the library or helping them get their riding gloves."

"What ever for?" Mari asked, surprised that the high and mighty people she and her friends work for had to do those kinds of work.

"It's called hazing, it trains us juniors to learn to obey order and earn respect from the seniors. If we don't obey the seniors, it's the same as saying we don't need to do what the older pages did." Henry explained.

The three chatted till they heard the hall clock sound at midnight. Henry and Laura regretfully left Mari's room and crept to their rooms. Mari gave a sigh of both relief and regret as she shut the door and slumped on her bed. She fell asleep immediately.

* * *

how was it? is it okay? review please and tell me of my bad points...

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	3. Chapter 2

posting it just because.

* * *

Chapter 2 

She awoke to something rough going over her face. Something wet and rough. She felt something on her tummy. She opened her eyes to see nothing. It was pitch black. Then, she saw a pair of green eyes shine in the darkness.

As she got up, she discovered a bruise where she had fallen on her side when she slept, a graze on her cheek and a few scratches. There was no light, no light at all. She huddled against the cold rough stones and pulled her cloak closer around her. The cloak which Aunt Betty made for her, it was comfortably warm and soft for aunt Betty had sewed layers of cloth so that they could be let down when she needed it and had grown put of it. 

All of a sudden, she remembered Tammy, "Tamarine, Tam where are you? Tammy?' she spoke into the darkness. A soft meow and something rubbing against her calves told her that Tammy was at her left. Cat's hand wriggled out from under her cloak and rubbed Tammy's warm fur.

_Chris__? Are you all…_Cat bit her lip. _That's right Chris isn't here any more…_ Desperately, her mind wandered for his familiar presence.

Then, she felt a faint presence. Her heartbeat quickened, she struggled to control her excitement. _Chris__…you're safe…_she felt at peace. _As long as you're alive… as long as you're safe…one day…I'll find you. One day…_she thought sleepily. Her head resting on her knees, Cat dozed off.

"Huh…….what is it Tam?" Cat asked drowsily, rubbing her violet eyes. _Humans_ Tam hissed before turning around. "Hey, wait up!" Cat scrambled to go after her. They crawled through the tunnel and were greeted by a meow.

"Tips! What are you doing here?" Cat cried. "Well anyway let's get out; my back's starting to cramp." Tam daintily stepped to a side allowing Cat to push the hollow brick out off its place. It landed on the floor with a thump and Cat and the two sleek cats hopped onto the ground.

Cat stretched her aching back, banding forwards to touch her toes and arching back planting her hands firmly on the ground. _Hurry up! We don't have much time. _Cat saw Tam and Tips disappearing into the darkness. Cat heaved herself back to a standing position before she hurried after them, not wanting to be left alone in the dark.

The passage ended and on the wall hung a painting of an old man with thick grey hair and green eyes; he was proudly holding a scroll. Then Cat gasped, "That's great grandfather Taft!" she recognized him from the various paintings they had of him, _He wasn't this old in the paintings, this picture must have been taken later_ she thought.

_Push the seal on the scroll._ Cat hesitantly lifted her hand to press the Tres Quelany seal on the painting. She touched it lightly and the seal slid in, open the door. _Hurry up. The humans have discovered the Rouka._ Sure enough, the pattering of footsteps and the yelling of men could be heard.

Cat stuck her fingers into the small hole and _tugged_. She felt the painting moved a bit. She tugged as she would to open a normal door and the painting swung open. The two cats stepped in, Cat followed after them.

All of a sudden, there was light. A fireball of light floated in front of them. _Come_, Tips said. Then, Cat gasped. The light from the fireball fell onto a pile of gold coins which reflected the light into her eyes.

"What's with all these money?" She asked. _It's the Fa Quinsy treasury._ Tammy replied. "Treasury?" Cat echoed. _Ignore all that, what you need is in there. _Cat stared ahead; right at the end there was a box. A rather battered and old box. There were holes on the rim of the box, as if there were once jewels there.

"An old box? What's so valuable about that?" Cat wondered. _Open it_, Tam ordered. Cat knelt and tried to open the box. "It's locked," Cat said. Tam made an exasperated noise and said _put both your hands on the rim of the box and push._

Cat did as she was told and was rewarded with a click and the lid creaked open. Cat waited expectantly, but all she saw was another smaller box, a few thick dusty books, a number of scrolls and some things made of metal at the bottom of everything.

She decided that the box would be the most interesting object. In the box were some papers, she took one up carefully and almost dropped the whole box. On it wrote, 'Addressed to Miss Caterine Fa Quinsy'.

She started to open the letter, for that was what it was, when she noticed a postscript. "P.s please read it only when you are fifteen. Love, your father." Cat's heart quickened. Her father! Before the twins had been born, their father had mysteriously disappeared. Their mother had never talked about their father. There were no portraits of him either.

The only thing the twins had left of him was a pendant, carved by Da himself. They were magnificent pendants with their names carved onto them.

She closed the box and carefully put it on the ground. Then she took out the books and browsed through them, "they're all books of education!" Cat exclaimed. "The scrolls too? No, some are maps."

She put them beside the box on the ground. And took a close look at the metal things. She gasped, they were weapons. She was about to take one out when she heard footsteps approaching. She quickly put everything back and was closing the lid when a shadow fell on her.

Panic seized her and her vision went black.

"Hey boy you all right?" a voice said. His eyes saw a blur three headed figure clear and form the head of a boy with almond color eyes, brown hair and a single ear ring on his left ear.

Someone helped him sit up, he groaned, his head still felt swimmy. "Where am I?" he asked groggily. He noticed that he was sitting on a beach.

"You're at Claffon. I'm Lynx, what's your name?" the boy with the single earring asked.

"I…don't…know." He finally said.

"You don't know? We'll name you then," another boy said matter-of-factly.

"First, introductions. Boys, introduce yourselves."

"Hi I'm Bug" a boy with huge eyes said.

"I'm Spear"

"I'm Hound, and I'm the second best tracker in the world!"

"Second?" he asked.

"Well, Lynx is the best." The boy explained, shrugging his thin shoulders. Come to think off it, all of them were thin, undernourished. They were dressed shabbily too. Except Lynx, he wore comfortable clothes without holes.

"And this is Wolf," Lynx said after everyone had finish introducing themselves. Wolf was a dog; it had a pelt not unlike a wolf, a wolfish smile, yellow eyes. Wolf barked and leaped onto him. His tail wagged and he started washing his face.

"Hey that tickles," he giggled. When he could get up, he saw the boys staring at him. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Wolf licked you! He acted like, like he liked you and Wolf doesn't like anybody except Lynx." Hound exclaimed.

"Do you know where you live? How old you are?" Lynx asked as if nothing unusual had happened.

"Umm…I don't know."

"That's too bad. You should be around six or seven, and you talk like a bag."

"Bag?"

"Noble." Lynx explained.

He shrugged at that. "Well kid, time to name you. Any suggestions?"

"Crane!"

"Bear!"

"Lark!"

"Owl!"

"How about Hawk?" Lynx suggested.

"Brilliant!"

"Scorching!"

"That's fine with me." He replied_. I-have-a-name! I-have-a-name!_ He repeated this thought over and over again, and shouted jubilantly "I have a name!"

The boys and Lynx laughed, and they began to play around_. I have a family._ Hawk realized. _I have a name. I have a family._ He grinned and played with his new family.

They went home in a wagon, with Lynx driving. The mare plodded on oblivious to the noise the boys were making. "Hey Lynx, who's gonna teach him?" Fisher asked.

"Me off course." Lynx replied nonchalantly.

"You don't have to majesty, I can do that," Bear said

"Well, lately nothing seems to be happening and I'm bored. Let me have some fun Bear." Lynx replied. Bear replied that it was up to him.

Then, Lynx whistled. A sudden silence fell, Hawk wondered if it would be good to ask what's going on. He decided against it and kept quiet with the rest of them.

"Old man, what are you doing so late at night?" a rough voice asked.

"Just sending some 'uns home off'cer" an old weak voice replied. _Was that Lynx?_ Hawk wondered how he could do what.

"Took them out again old man? Well, take care then."

"Thank ye very much off'cer." Lynx/old man replied. Then, the wagon moved on. It was awhile before Lynx whistled again. And everyone got off the wagon.

"Jabber, rub old Massie down," Lynx ordered.

"What was that?" Hawk asked.

"The dogs always guard the city; Lynx always manage to fool them though." Fisher grinned wickedly as he said this.

"Dogs?" it seems like there was a lot of words he needed to learn.

"The officers"

"Oh,"

"Okay boys, time for some grub!" at this the boys cheered. Fisher explained that grub was food. They all hurried into the building. It was a tavern, a girl and a woman served them.

"Well, who's this kid?" the woman asked as she served him a huge portion of the food. She smiled at him.

"That's Hawk, Rila, he washed onto the beach. We decided to keep him," Lynx explained between mouthfuls of food.

"Washed up onto the beach? Well, welcome to his majesty's." Rila smiled and said. "That's my daughter, Fanny." Fanny waved at him and went back to serving Sheep.

After dinner, they went to sleep. The boys slept on mattresses on the floor. "How did you like your day with us?" Lynx asked.

"Scorching!" Hawk replied. Lynx laughed and ruffled his hair.

"You're alright Hawk, you're alright. 'Night," Lynx said.

"'night Lynx." Hawk slept soundly the whole night.

Someone was coming. A black figure chased after her, whispering her name. Then, there was thunder, she cowered down in fear. Then, she started to shake. And, the black thing was closing in. it reached out its black claws and…she saw Lenard's face.

There were drops of sweat on her face. And she discovered that she was panting. Lenard passed her a glass of water. _Lenard_ She thought numbly.

"What are you doing in my room?" she asked with a puzzled frown. The light was still not switched on; she got up to turn it on when Lenard grasped her arm.

"Don't turn on the lights, tie your hair, wear this and go to the servants dinning room. I'll explain later," He threw her a bundle off clothes and slipped out off the room.

She did up her hair into two neat plaits, put on the strange clothes he gave her. _Are these **boys'** clothing? _She put them on anyway; she then tucked her chain into her clothes. She grabbed a cloak, and sneaked down to the servants dinning room, where Lenard said he would be.

When she reached the servants dinning room, she saw Lenard standing silently at the backdoor. When he saw her, he beckoned her to follow him.

Mari followed Lenard, her patience wearing thin. _What on earth is going on?_ She thought. Finally, he stopped. "What's going on Lenard? Where are you bringing me? Is this a joke?" she asked him, irritated. She was tired from the day's work of scrubbing pots and pans bigger than her, and her mood worsen when Lady Evelinda told her that by the end of that week, she had to stop her studies and start working full time.

Then, she heard someone sniff. " Mari!" Laura cried as she fell on her, crying.

" Mistress Laura? What's the matter? Don't cry." Mari looked around and saw Henry standing rigidly. His eyes were holding back tears that glistened in the moonlight.

" Mis'ress Laura? What on earth are you wearing?" Mari cried out, horrified to see her friend once dressed in splendid gowns and satin slippers wear ragged clothes. "Trousers!" she exclaimed, aghast.

"We have to go now that Mari is here. Get into the carriage Miss Laura, Master Henry. Mari go in with them, I shall explain what happed on the journey." Lenard said. They got into the carriage and the horses plodded away.

"The duke and the lady were accused of treason." He finally uttered.

"What!" Mari blurted in shock. _Charged with treason? That can't be true._ The duke and Lady are very kind people; they care for their people thus there were seldom riots in peaceful Hillington. Once, a crotchety old couple mistreated their servants, the duke and the lady immediately took action and the servant became one of us, that servant was Lenard. Her head spun like the wheels on the carriage.

Upon hearing this, Laura burst into tears once more, Henry eyes filled and tears flowed down his cheeks soundlessly. Mari cried too. She cried to hear of the duke and lady wrongly accused, she cried to see her best friends cry and cried herself to sleep.

Dawn found her tear streaked face as she woke up, even though her body could use the rest, the habit of waking up at dawn would not allow it. She found she was leaning against Henry; she carefully got up, so as not to disturb him and got down from the carriage.

Lenard was already up and making a fire. Lying neatly beside the fire are fish. He must have got up really early to get them, she thought. "So what are we going to do now?" she asked after she washed her face at a nearby stream.

"The Duke told me to get to Claffon. Go to Lord Jives and ask him for help." Lenard said wearily.

"Will he help?" Mari asked

"My guess is that he will but I don't know how." He sighed. Mari sat down beside him and started to scale the fish. She was done when Henry woke up.

" Mari, why didn't you wake me up?" he asked. Lenard took a piece of fish and started to cook it.

"You needed the rest." she told him.

"And you don't?"

"I'm used to it, you're not." she retorted. He grunted in reply and sat beside her. "Here," she passed the cooked fish to him.

"I'll go wake Laura up," Mari said and went to the carriage. " Laura. Time to wake up. Laura, Laura." Mari called and shook her gently by the shoulder.

"Hmm?" Laura sat up and yawned, she rubbed her eyes and said, "It's still early Diva-" Laura started. "Oh, we're not at Hillingtosh anymore." She whispered.

"Come, breakfast is ready." Mari told her and led her to the fire. Lenard passed her a fish and she ate it silently. Mari ate mutely, not daring to break the silence.

Then, Lenard cleared his throat, "We'll be a heading to Claffon where we'll meet Lord Jives. Then we're to see if he'll help us." Brother and sister just nodded their heads and continued eating in silence.

After breakfast, they left and slept on the way. Lenard and Mari took turns to drive to let Lenard to have some sleep. When she was driving, Mari tucked her hair in a cap Lenard had thought to bring. Laura thought she looked like a boy and said so. Mari just smiled wanly in reply.

Finally, they reached Hayer Halls, where Lord Jives lived. Lenard spoke to the butler who opened the door and he scurried away. Not long after, a man in his late forties appeared at the door. He had wavy blond hair, neatly combed to a side, a pair of twinkling blue eyes, a moustache and a deep voice as he spoke.

"Come in quickly," he ordered and they hurried heads down, into the huge mansion. He closed the door and clapped his hands. Immediately, the butler came and led them through a hall more spacious and splendid than the duke's and to a dinning hall.

Then, in came the dishes of food, oh how their mouths watered at the sight of them. "I suppose you are hungry after the long journey. Eat, and then we shall talk." Lord Jives said merrily.

The four tucked into their food and ate till they could eat no more. Lord Jives waited till he was sure their attention was on him before he said, "I suppose you have come because Harvey was accused of treason." He glanced at his guests. "Until the mess is cleared up," Lord Jives did not say that he thought the matter will never be cleared.

"You shall stay with me," he continued. "But we'll have to work on your new identities. No use worrying about it now, we shall settle it tomorrow. Klara shall show you to your rooms." He bid them goodnight and left.

A maid with brown hair tied in a long braid led them to their rooms, and for the first time in three long tiring days, they slept on beds.

how is it? reviews? pls??? 


	4. Chapter 3

posting it just because again.

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Chapter 3

"What kind of secret passage is this, a teensy weensy entrance so that only me can fit in. an' what's the point of diggin' it so deep! I swear this passage was made to torture me! It is…"Gilbert Tressone muttered as her trudged through a long windy passage.

At last, the passage ended with a door left ajar. _Not a door, _he realize, but a painting, of a guy with a mustache. "An' a hole in it." He said dryly. He pushed the door and it swung open slowly, _no creak_, Gilbert realized. _Someone must'a oiled it._

"Minerva! Lookit all the gold!" Gilbert fingered the coins. He picked up one and bit it. "Ouch!" he cried, but said wonderingly, "Gold! Real gold!"

Then, he heard movement. He swung around. He saw a hooded figure crouching near a battered old chest. The figure scrambled back and pressed himself against the wall. The person was breathing heavily, _from fear_, Gilbert realized.

"Its okay, I won't hurt you." He stretched out his hand and stepped slowly, not wanting to frighten him more, towards him. The person whimpered and cowered back. "I won't hurt you." He repeated comfortingly, and knelt down.

"Don't be afraid," he said. At the sound of his voice, the person lifted his head. And Gilbert saw a pair of black eyes staring at him. Something felt wrong about the eyes. Its pupils are too wide, he realized, the eyes were almost totally black except for its corners which showed a hint of dark green, probably its previous color.

Then, the hood fell back, revealing a cascade of long auburn hair tumbling over her shoulders. The girl timidly raised a hand, and hesitated when she saw that Gilbert had not responded.

Gilbert recovered from his shock and smiled warmly at the girl. He took her little hand in his and the girl looked at him, her face expressionless. _Her eyes looked like they're dead_, he thought.

He inched closer and closer to the strange girl whose face remained expressionless as she observed Gilbert. When he was just an inch from her face, he gathered her in his arms. His still held her hand, while the other hand patted her hair. Then, he felt wetness. Concerned, he took a look at the girl.

She was crying.

Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, but her face was still expressionless, same as before. Her arms were hanging beside her. He couldn't bear to see the girl cry, _better take her to the others,_ he thought.

He hoisted her onto his back without much difficulty since the girl made no effort to resist. And was about to reach the door when there was a hissing sound. Two black cats appeared from the shadows.

The cats arched their backs and hissed, blocking the entrance. Gilbert remained adamant and tried to cross the cats but they blocked his way every time he tried to cross. He swore and went back to the back of the room and put the girl down.

The girl staggered, Gilbert hurried to support her as she lost conscious altogether. He placed her gently on the ground, and watched her as she lay with a serene look. From her height, Gilbert assumed that she was about five to six years old. "Just three years younger than meself," he said to himself.

He didn't notice the two black cats watching him from the darkness, their green eyes glowing in the shadows, watching him nod off and then watching the girl.

* * *

"You're too noticeable with that red hair Hawk. Let's find old Hoe and ask for a hair dye. What color ya want?" Lynx asked him.

"What color will there be?" Hawk asked, self-conscientiously touching his hair.

"Well, there'll probably be brown, blonde, dirty blonde," he grinned, "red, oh and you better decide what ya gonna be before the Lanks pounce on us while ya haven't decided."

Hawk frowned and thought hard all the way to old Hoe. He could be a bandit like Lynx, but then he'd have to challenge Lynx. He could also be a minor tavern boy and grow up to be a brawler like Karps. Or he could be a nicker, like all the other boys. Then, he had it, he'll be a thief. Thieves, real thieves were rare, they were killed off by Lynx if they decided against him or they're caught and killed by the dogs.

And there was Crookshanks's gang. They were the only other gang. There were regular fights as of which gang would dominate the area. All members of the gangs were supposed to fight, honor did not matter in these battles, it would not be unusual to see the bigger ones fight with the smaller sized ones. These five days he had been here, he had been picking up tips and learning the mugger language.

Lastly, hair color, he could choose brown like Lynx. Or dirty blonde like most of the gang. Then, he got it. "I'll pick black! Lynx, I'll have black hair. And I'll be a thief," he cried excitedly.

"Well, black'll work well enough." he smiled. "But you sure ya wanna be a thief? You might have'ta fight me,"

"What if I promise to be loyal to you only Lynx?" Hawk asked cautiously.

"Well, I suppose it'll work. But we'll see how you progress before deciding anything. But it's a promise that you'll make it." Lynx grinned.

"It's a deal! I'll work hard, I promise!" Hawk said eagerly. Lynx just smiled and said that they were there.

Old Hoe's stall was a blanket on the ground with trinkets and bottles of all sorts on it. Old Hoe himself was an old man with unkempt beard and hair. He was as thin as bamboo and had rags, torn and patched, as clothes.

He was bargaining with a maid, it seemed who also had come to buy hair dyes and some other stuff. The boys only approached old Hoe when the maid went away.

"Hey Hoe, have you got a black hair dye for Hawk here? One that'll not wash away any time soon." Lynx asked merrily.

"Well, have just the thing. It'll only wash off ten years from now on the day that un was born." Old Hoe smiled, showing all his yellow teeth and missing gums.

"and how 'bout some picks while ya at it." Lynx said.

"As usual aye Lynx?" old Hoe said. Lynx just smiled and gave him the money.

"Off course, it'll be coming out of your money," Lynx told Hawk as they left. Hawk just nodded.

When they reached the Jolly Hollers, Hawk immediately went to apply the hair dye. When he finished, he looked into the mirror.

He saw a black haired boy with green eyes staring back at him. Hawk grinned and the boy in the mirror grinned with him. He raced out to tell Lynx.

Lynx grinned when he saw him. "you look good," Hawk beamed and dashed out to show the others.

* * *

"Well, you finally woke up." Lord Jives said as a yawning Marianne stepped into the dining hall where everyone had already gotten up and were talking. Mari blushed, and reprimanded herself for getting up so late.

"I apologize for waking up late." she said meekly as she felt her cheeks burn hotter and hotter.

"Its okay, you must have been tired, sit down." Lord Jives said pleasantly. "We were just discussing how you will live here." He waved at the empty space beside Henry.

"Henry can be a page since I am the training master. As for Laura and Marianne, you girls might have to disguise yourselves as boys. It'll serve as a better disguise. Laura, you're tall enough to act as a page. Marianne, you'll be a page too, maybe you and Henry had better be brothers, and the cousin of Laura. Unless, Laura, you have another idea."

"I was thinking, uncle Jives, I could be a sewing apprentice." Laura asked timidly, "They wouldn't think of looking for me there since they think I don't like sewing and I'll do well. I promise I will," she added fervently.

"Off course you can be a sewing apprentice. Then you shall be the sister of Marianne, whom I assume will consent to be a page, who will be the cousin of Henry." Lord Jives said pleasantly.

Laura smiled at him. _A page huh?_ Mari thought,_ well, it's not too bad; at least Henry will be there._ "Anyways, here," lord jives said and Klara came in with three bottles of colored liquid.

"These are hair dyes, there's brown, blonde and black. Choose one." He said.

"Can I have the brown one?" Laura asked.

"Sure, but Marianne will have to have about the same hair color as you since you two are going to be siblings."

"Can we mix the black and brown to make it look darker?" Mari asked. Lord Jives agreed and Henry chose the blonde dye. Next, Klara came in with three brown packets.

"These are illusion magic bought to make your eyes seem a different color than your usual one. There's green, brown and blue. Well, since you're taking the blonde dye Henry, I suppose you could use the blue one to make your eyes seem darker than your normal eye color. As for Laura and Marianne, you two could use green; maybe Laura's darker than Marianne's. The brown one could be given to Lenard to use, and maybe the black hair dye."

"Ah yes, there's the matter of names. All of you have to have different names now. Well, I leave you to choose what names you would like to have."

"Now, Klara shall help the girls while Whilly shall help the boys." As soon as he finished, Klara and another man appeared at the door. Klara led the girls to their bedroom and sat them on a chair.

"Now misses, please sit still while wash your hair," Klara made Laura tilt her head back and let her hair soak in a basin of water, then mumbling something about a towel, she walked away.

"This is uncomfortable," Laura complained softly. "So, what names should have for ourselves Mari?"

"I don't rightly know Mistress Laura," Mari replied.

"Mari please do away with all that, I'm not your mistress anymore, I'm your friend, actually I'm your sister, so just call me Laura." Laura said firmly.

Then, Klara came back with two towels and a bottle of shampoo. She tipped out a pink liquid onto her palm and started to wash Laura's hair vigorously.

"Ouch," Laura murmured quietly now and then. Finally, Klara took another basin of water, _Where did that come from? _Mari wondered, and washed all the lather from Laura's now shiny blonde hair.

Klara then took the towel and dried Laura's hair as dry as she could. "Now we'll wait for it to dry completely before we apply the dye. Now it is your turn to wash your hair Marianne."

Having said that, Klara took the basins and dumped the dirty water out. The girls knew that since they heard the sloshing of water. After which, Klara returned with two basins full of water.

She set them onto the table and motioned Mari to sit on the stool. Mari slowly tipped her head back and let her long hair into the clear warm water. _Oh my lovely long hair, this shall be the last time I'll have you. At least you get a good washing before you get cut._

She let Klara handle her hair while she let her mind become blank for a few moments before she was aware that Laura was talking to her.

"What do you think?" Laura asked.

"Huh?" Mari stared blankly at Laura, "sorry, I wasn't listening."

"I could tell," Laura said, "I _asked _if the name Lauren would fit me,"

"Lauren? I suppose it'll do. What name do you think I should pick Lauren?" I asked Laura, now Lauren.

"well, how about Ronald? Then I could call you Ron for short." Lauren said happily.

"Ronald?" Mari thought about it.

Then, she stood up and excused herself to go to the bathroom. When the door closed behind her, she took out a chain from under her clothes which had hung round her neck. It was a silver triangle with her name carved on the crystallized surface. The Duke and Lady Hilary said that the necklace had been with her when they picked her up.

Mari stared at the pendant, the only thing she had that could link her to her parents, her real parents. She had always played around with questions of her real family. Why had they left her beside the road? Did they not want her? Why?

Then, her misted over, and she found that she could not see her name clearly. She blinked the tears away; a drop of tear tumbled over her eye lids and landed onto the pendant. Then, the words began to glow. The letters glowed bright cheerful gold and the letters swirled to form another word. A name, her new name, "Jeremyya".

She stared in awe at her pendant. She tried her new name, it felt right. Strange enough, it felt as if it belonged to her. She smiled, and went quietly back to the room.

"I have decided," she announced. "My name shall be Jeremyya."

"Jeremyya," Lauren repeated. "All right then, I'll call you Myya."

Myya smiled in response and sat down to wait for Klara, who had gone for more water, to come back.

When Klara had finished drying Mari's hair, she went out and came back with two bottles. She told Laura to sit on the stool; she tipped a mass of brown liquid onto her palm and started applying the dye onto Lauren's hair.

Myya sat on the floor and hugged her knees. She watched Klara's deft fingers run through Lauren's hair and watched it turn from blonde to light brown, and fingered her own red hair.

* * *

MyyaMa-ya


	5. Chapter 4

posting just because :( sigh, no one's reading it...ah well...this is a shorter chapter...can't really thing what to write.

* * *

Chapter 4

Cat awoke to darkness, _again_, she mused. _What happened?_ She sat up and looked around her. She was still in the treasury, but Tammy and Tips were not in sight. "Tam? Tips? Are you there?" she whispered.

_Think Cat think. What happened? _She thought hard and searched through murky waters in her mind. _There was someone, he came and I…fainted……again…bugger, what's with me and fainting nowadays? _Cat sighed and got up, she was about to walk back to the chest when she heard a grunt.

Cat stopped moving, her heartbeat quickened and Cat tried to calm her breathing. She saw a shape get up from the ground and she stepped back. "where is she?" _is he talking about me?_ Cat wondered.

_No way, how could he be talking about me? _She reasoned with herself. _Damn it! Where the heck are Tammy and Tips! _

Cat took another step back, the figure was coming closer. "Hey, is that you? Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you."

Cat almost snorted, _how can a little guy like him hurt me?_

_Exactly! How can he hurt you? So why are you so scared?_ Tammy appeared out of the shadows.

_I'm not scared!_ She declared and stepped out from behind the crates she was hiding behind.

The person whipped around at the sound of her footsteps. "So there you were."

She saw a boy, probably 3 years older than her. He had brown eyes and messy brown hair; he looked relieved to see her. _Why should he? I don't know him._ Cat wondered.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Cat demanded. The boy looked taken aback from being spoken to so harshly.

_He won't hurt you. He cannot, so don't be so mean._ Tips chided stepping out from behind the boy.

Cat immediately felt sorry, "sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I-"

"who's scared? Not me!" the boy burst out.

Cat raised an eyebrow.

"anyway, my name is Cat. So who are you?"

"Gilbert."

"so what are you doing here?"

"explorin'."

Cat stared at him, did he not know where he was? This was the palace! Not a place where commoners could just wonder in and **explore**.

"what 'bout you? Do you know where you are?"

"the palace of course!"

"then, what are you doing here? Its not somewhere where the likes of us can wonder in anyhows we like."

_What do I say? Tam? Tips? A lil' help here?_

_Lead him out of here. _Tam replied.

_You can come back tonight. _Tips continued.

"I was-*cough**cough*" Cat faked a strangled cough.

"what's wrong? Are you alright?" he stepped forward worry etched his face.

"I think it's the dust, -*cough*cough*"

"better get out of here…come on" he grabbed her arm and slowly steered her out and up the passage way. Cat hid a smirk under her hand, and thought fast.

_Better act dumb, I shan't know if they're good people or not. Yep, better to act dumb…_

_Good decision,_ Tammy replied.

_You'll come?_

_I shall follow behind, don't worry._ Tammy reassured her.

_And I shall stay here to keep watch…_Tips waved a tail turned back into the dark room.

It was then that she realized, she could communicate with the cats._ How c-_

"we're out, do you feel better?"

* * *

"ya see the old guy there? The one selling apples and pears," Crane whispered into his ear.

"yea? What 'bout him?"

"well, you got'ta try ta nick two apples from him," Crane said.

"okay…" Hawk tried to sound confident, but he wasn't really. And it wasn't even his first attempt, it was the eleventh. Even so, he couldn't rub away the weird feeling in his gut. When he told Lynx about it, Lynx just laughed and messed up his hair, telling him that it'll disappear with time.

As usual, he mixed in with the crowd, Owl had said he had natural talent in this area, and slowly but gradually steered though the crowd to the stall. He peered over them as if interested. And when the man turned around, a deft movement in less than 2 seconds, the apples were in his pocket resting.

There wasn't a bulge of any sort; he had practiced this for ages, late into the night till he fell asleep over his arms. Then he casually shrugged at the man, giving him an apologetic grin and shuffled off.

He was sure he had done it all very well.

No one noticed, he was sure of that, when he got back to the others, they clapped his back and gave him the thumbs up.

"that was great man!"

"abosolutely"

"you're getting better!"

"scorching work!"

Hawk just grinned, and accepted their words with modesty. But inside he thought _if everything went so well, why don't I feel good?

* * *

_

Myya was donned in a page's clothes wear; it was sunny yellow with gold rimmed along the edges. She remembered the sickening feeling she had when they had to get the measurements for it.

_What if I were found out? _Myya fiddled about with her fingers nervously, anxiety poisoning her stomach. _Will I have to take off my clothes? Will they realize? That I'm a girl?_

"Girt in here brat," a raggedy voice rasped out, the owner was an old man with a scowl pinned onto his face. He took one look at her and said "scrawny brat ain't he?" and wrapped a knotted rope around her shoulders, waist and hips, screeching out measurements to a flustered young man who scribbled them as fast as he could and disappeared to get the clothes. After which a load of cloth was dumped upon her and she was pushed out the door.

Starring at the mirror, she laughed out loud to herself at the absurdity of the whole event. Her clothes were obviously too big for her, the shirt covering her knees like a dress, the long pants flopping over her boots which were miraculously the right size.

She took them off to reveal a black leotard, it was given to her by Mistress Lau-_no, __**Mandy.**_ When Mandy had to learn some dancing lessons, it happened that one of her leotards was made too loose for her, so in order not to waste it; Ms Jacons gave it to her. there had been enough cloth to make two, so Myya mended each of them to fit her nicely, Myya had worn it every day ever since, washing them on alternate days.

She mended her new uniform to let it touch the top of her knees and her pants to cover her boots nicely without creating the possibility of stepping on them. Her sleeves were also adjusted that they touched her knuckles.

"hey Ma--Myya,"

"yes Jonathan?" she tried his new name on her lips, they were unfamiliar and did not match the Master Henry she knew.

"call me Jon," he said abruptly. Staring into her eyes.

"Jon?" she tried. It fitted Henry better. She smiled.

"anyway Myya, its time for dinner, let's go."

"alright Jon."

* * *

end.


End file.
